What happened to rule #1? Well, I realized that life was too short for bad books. It takes a lot for me to give up on a book, but I will. I will set a book aside if I start reading it and realize it's just not worth it. I have better things to do.
I remember I was having a little barbecue, . . . a party around the pool with my (best) friend Claggett and his family. I picked up some rum at the store. Why I picked up "dragon fruit rum" I don't know, but I did. Worst, I don't know why I decided to try and make mojitos with dragon fruit rum . . . but I did. Apparently, it was a day of big mistakes. We tried the mojitos, and I knew they were bad, but Claggett looked at me and said, "Life is too short for a drink this bad."
He was right, and I've taken that saying to heart and I've applied it to books.
That's not to say I'm not always down for a trashy novel, or romance, or fun light comedy, I am. But it has to be well-written and engrossing.
It's #2 that's really changed.
Just recently I was reading a book for my series of reading, Clancy or Griffin or some such, I had a book I was reading for work, a book I was reading for school, and a novel I was reading exclusively before going to sleep. Four books at once, two of them were novels. I also had a books on tape on leadership going on during my commute.
Juggling that many books has become too much. I'm streamlining things. I'm moving back to something closer to the two rules I had as a kid.
I'm starting with another series for that little trend I'm following. I think Andrew Klavan has three or four books out recently. I'm moving on to that.
But I'm sticking with the Claggett Contract . . . life is too short for bad books . . .well in his case it was cocktails, . . . I don't even know if Claggett reads. I know he drinks.
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